Hansgrohe AG celebrates its 110th anniversary with sights firmly fixed on the billion mark

Hansgrohe, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of bathroom fittings and showerheads, celebrates its 110^th anniversary this month. Founded in 1901 by Hans Grohe as a three-man metal spinning company in the Black Forest village of Schiltach, Germany, Hansgrohe AG has grown to become an international leader of the sanitation industry with over 3,200 employees and subsidiaries in 37 countries worldwide. 

In 2010, company sales rose by 13.5 per cent to €693 million with growth forecasts for 2011 revised upwards. Hansgrohe AG now aims and is on target for new record sales and revenues this year. 

“Our sights are firmly fixed on the billion mark as an interim sales target. In our sector, which is influenced by a majority of medium-sized businesses, only a few companies have grown thanks to their efforts in recent years as dynamically and profitably as Hansgrohe AG. Results for the first months of the current year confirm that this development is likely to continue throughout 2011. New orders for the domestic German and international market are significantly above their peak compared to last year,” commented  Siegfried Gaensslen, CEO, Hansgrohe AG.

Growing with the company’s workforce 

Hansgrohe AG has grown in harmony with its employees and not at their expense. Klaus Grohe, who led the company from 1975 to 2008 and has been chairman of the board of directors since 2008 emphasizes that “even as a global player, we never forgot our roots as a medium-sized family business.” 

“We’ve achieved our success by staying true to our principles and characteristics that have distinguished Hansgrohe for the past 110 years, contributing to our reselience as a company,” said Siegfried Gaensslen. “We benefit from a flourishing culture of innovation, which is practiced across the company and remain firmly committed to high quality. Our products consistently aim for improved customer benefits and production focuses on steady efficiency and productivity gains. Hansgrohe’s market approach is based on systematic internationalization with the core strategy dating back to 1907 when our export business began. Finally, we benefit from our employees’ exceptionally high levels of commitment and flexibility and we can always rely on our workforce.” 

Hansgrohe is committed to continuing its legacy in the bathroom industry for the years to come 

The company’s roots continue to have an influence. Since 1901 successive members of company founder Hans Grohe’s family have taken active roles in managing the business, and Hans Grohe’s pioneering approach and his passion for the element of water still influence the fittings and showerhead manufacturer to this day. 

Hansgrohe AG consistently succeeds in setting new standards globally and introducing key trends in the international bathroom sector thanks to its innovations from the first automatic drain and overflow set (1934) to the shower column (1953) and the world’s first showerhead with adjustable jets (1968) to Raindance AirPower technology (2004) and heat recuperation from shower and bath waste water (2010). 

Additionally, the bathroom and sanitary specialist from the Black Forest also sets design standards in the industry – a result of its long-standing cooperation with internationally renowned design stars such as Phoenix Design, Philippe Starck, Antonio Citterio, Jean-Marie Massaud, Patricia Urquiola and the Bouroullec brothers.   

It is no accident that along with about 1,900 companies considered for the International Forum Design Award, Hansgrohe AG currently ranks eleventh. The company is therefore ahead of its competitors in the sanitary industry, and also leaves behind other reputable brands such as Daimler, Audi, Hewlett Packard, Miele and Volkswagen, which are featured on this exclusive list of the best design companies. 

Siegfried Gaensslen and Klaus Grohe are unanimous that “this influential power of innovation not only helps us develop new solutions and products. It also regularly motivates us to question our processes and business model and, if necessary, to reinvent ourselves to a certain degree. This is of vital importance for the future viability of the company. Hansgrohe AG has such a strong strategic position that it can also write history for years to come in the bathroom industry!”